IGI Announces 2016 CRISPR Workshop: Practical Aspects of Precision Biology

The IGI’s new summer CRISPR Workshop: Practical Aspects of Precision Biology, to be held July 11–15, 2016, will give participants a unique opportunity to learn about CRISPR technology in a laboratory-focused environment. Distinguished presenters and pioneers in the field of genome engineering will present lectures on a variety of topics – including basic and enhanced CRISPR methods, cellular repair mechanisms, regulation of gene expression, bioinformatics, applications to various organisms, and bioethics – and a practical laboratory component will give participants hands-on experience under the guidance of current practitioners of CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

CRISPR Workshop: Practical Aspects of Precision Biology
Dates: July 11–15, 2016
Location: Berkeley, CA

Workshop co-organizers Dana Carroll (Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Utah) and Martin Kampmann (Assistant Professor of Biochemistry & Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco) are excited about expanding the scope of this year’s workshop to include a practical laboratory experience that will enable participants to engage in research techniques unique to CRISPR research. Dr. Carroll – who organized the IGI’s 2015 CRISPR Workshop: Routes to Designer Biology – made it a priority to incorporate a laboratory component in this year’s workshop: “We are excited to offer a laboratory experience, so students will see exactly how the CRISPR tools can be employed and appreciate their efficacy and simplicity.”  Dr. Kampmann, an expert in the multiplexed screening aspect of gene editing research, is designing the workshop’s hands-on bioinformatics sessions, which will cover the basics of screen design and analysis – “Multiplexed targeting of genes using CRISPR-based technology is a transformative technology for uncovering gene function and cellular pathways.”

Confirmed presenters currently include: Dana Carroll (University of Utah), Jacob Corn (Innovative Genomics Initiative), Jennifer Doudna (Innovative Genomics Initiative; University of California, Berkeley; HHMI), Luke Gilbert (University of California, San Francisco), Hank Greely (Stanford University), Lin He (University of California, Berkeley), Max Horlbeck (University of California, San Francisco), Martin Kampmann (University of California, San Francisco), Randy Peterson (Harvard Medical School), Jonathan Weissman (University of California, San Francisco; HHMI).

This new workshop is designed for scientists in academia and industry who have limited experience with CRISPR technology and want to expand its use in their research, and applications from researchers at all levels – including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and more senior researchers – will be accepted. Applications will be accepted online starting February 16, 2016, and the deadline to submit an application is April 10, 2016.

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Contact:  Marsha Fenner, IGI Program Director (mwfenner@berkeley.edu)